European Commission continue with its ban on Nepali airlines
June 18, 2016 –Along with the continuity of the Ban from European Commission to restrict Nepali airlines to fly into 28-nation bloc has proved inefficiency of the CAAN. This ban is the product of failure of the Nepali aviation authorities to rectify air safety standard as per the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO).
According to the list made public in Brussels, HQ of EU, this ban is subject to all Nepali airlines certified by the CAAN. The first ban issued by EU was in 2013 and the recent ban is based on the no fulfillment of mandatory standards and requisites as per ICAO. EU Commissioner for transport Mr. Violeta Bulc said” Aviation safety is my top priority and today’s update illustrates our continuous effort to offer the highest level of safety to European citizens’. The update of Air Safety List was based on the unanimous decision of the experts of EU Air Safety Committee. European Aviation Agency further informed that it shall only lift the blacklist only if the ICAO closed its safety concerns about the country’s aviation sector.
This ban has not only shattered the fame of aviation as well is likely to hit the gross domestic product (GDP) of nation. The ban is imposed amidst when NAC had aimed to operate two wide body aircraft to European destination whereas country had aimed to bring over one million tourists annually in next two years.
“EU ban followed by ICAO’s SSCAs is the major setback to country’s aviation industry and the tourism sector”, a senior NAC director said. He further opined that despite of having 4 ministers of aviation after 2013 the fate of CAAN remained unchanged. Private sectors though claimed to have meet the standards of the ICAO the regulatory body’s inefficiency has led this chaos he added.
